Springer breaks complaints record

The BBC screening of Jerry Springer - The Opera has sparked a record 5,500 complaints to TV watchdogs.

The controversial West End musical is due to be broadcast uncut on BBC2 this Saturday.

Media regulator Ofcom has received 5,500 complaints before the programme has even been shown - three times as many as the previous record holder, Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ, which sparked 1,554 complaints when it was shown on TV in 1995.

The BBC has received more than 15,000 calls from concerned viewers but the Corporation has vowed to go ahead with the broadcast.

The Jerry Springer show features more than 8,000 obscenities and a scene in which a nappy-wearing Jesus admits he is "a bit gay".

Clean-up campaigners have demanded the programme be dropped.

But the National Secular Society urged the BBC to stand firm against "religious bullies".

Terry Sanderson, the society's vice president, said: "This organised attack is the latest of a series of attempts by religious interests to control what we can see or say in this country.

"Jerry Springer - The Opera is an award-winning show, and the fact it has run for two years in theatres demonstrates its popularity.

"It is the BBC's formal duty to reflect society and bring such plays to a wider audience who might not otherwise be able to see them at a theatre.

"Viewers have a right to see it. Those who are likely to be offended have a similar right to turn it off."

The furore follows the Sikh protest in Birmingham over the staging of the controversial play Bezhti.

The BBC was forced to pull the £2.5 million satirical cartoon Popetown from the schedules after a campaign by the Catholic Church.

TV lobby group Mediawatch-UK has written to BBC chairman Michael Grade claiming the show breaches the Corporation's guidelines on respecting religious sensibilities.

In an open letter, Mediawatch-UK's director John Beyer said: "The continuous stream of obscene and profane language, as well as the debauched behaviour that characterised Mr Springer's TV shows, is unacceptable and will alienate a large number of viewers.

"Licence fee payers do not expect the BBC to be pushing back boundaries of taste and decency in this way."

The opera, still playing to packed houses in the West End, contains a total of 3,168 "f"-words and 297 "c"-words.

The expletive-laden songs - including Pregnant By A Transsexual and Here Come The Hookers - are sung by the lead cast members and the 27-strong chorus.

The total number of obscenities is calculated by multiplying the number of swear-words by the number of people singing them.

The show will form the centrepiece of Jerry Springer Night on BBC2 this Saturday. It will be broadcast uncut from 10pm.